nicf1fan

What’s in a nose? February 3, 2012

Today was the unveiling of the F2012 by Ferrari and the VJM05 by Force India both of which have the same ‘step’ or ‘Platypus’ noses as the Caterham so what is in a nose?

The FIA regulations have stipulated that the nose on the cars in 2012 can be no higher than 55cm from the ground, this is to help prevent a car flipping if in an accident and to give greater visibility to the drivers. With the drivers themselves having to fit in the car not far behind the nose this step concept seems to have been born!

Does this mean that McLaren has an advantage over the others? Only time, testing and racing will really answer that question. In my opinion though I don’t think there is any advantage! Any of the F1 teams have the opportunity to ‘copy’ innovations or existing parts from their competitors so would have been able to use the concepts from McLaren at any time however, so far, 3 teams have chosen to go with the step nose. After months of testing in a wind tunnel and simulations there must be some reason why this is the case and I think every F1 fan is now intrigued to see the results from testing and also what the other teams unveil! Personally I want to see what Red Bull (or should I say Adrian Newey) comes up with!

Does it matter then what the nose looks like? In an ideal world we would all like our teams to build cars that look nice at the same time as ‘going like stink’ and maybe McLaren are the team, so far, that have managed this but given a choice between a pretty car or one that is going to go faster, as a F1 fan, I would want the faster car! If this style of nose helps Ferrari, Force India and Caterham to improve their chances within the race then ‘bring on the ugly noses’ is what I say!

So what is in a nose? McLaren have gone for an aesthetically pleasing nose whereas Ferrari, Force India and Caterham have chosen the ‘uglier’ option, which is right? Only time will tell!